Pleural Thickening

Pleural thickening, diffuse pleural thickening (DPT), is a result of a severe inflammation of the pleural sheets, a thin membrane that covers the lungs, leading to the consolidation of the tissue due to a specific scaring. One of the causes for the condition is empyema that develops when pus builds-up in the space between the lung tissue and pleural space (the inner surface of the chest wall). With the advance of the scaring, the lungs may be encapsulated with the thick tissue, with the further disappearance of the natural space between the pleural cover and the lungs. The after-effect of this condition is a reduction of total lung capacity (TLC), thus, the deterioration of respiratory function and hemodynamic disorders due to growing hypoxemia.

00:00
So, the last subject is pleural thickening.
00:04
Now this is what happens when you’ve had problems with
the pleura and the main problems that cause pleuralthickening long-term is previous pleural infection
including tuberculosis and bacterial infections,previous blood in the pleural space such as
a hemothorax after trauma. And what happensin these situations that the fluid that is
present during the acute event resolves, butthe pleura has been scarred by the process.
Therefore, you're left with a range of thickeningaround the pleura, which makes the lung much
less able to expand and causes restrictivedefects in the lung function. So for example,
this is the chest X-ray ofa young man who presented with pneumonia and
empyema. Infact its the X-ray of the firstpatient I showed was a pleural infection earlier.
And you can see that although we treated theempyema with pleural drainage. He’s been left
with a considerable amount of pleural thickeningwhich is visible both on the side of the chest
with that characteristic squared off shapeof pleural thickening. And also, the back
of the lung there seems doing as well whichrepresents pleural thickening around the
back of the lung.
01:17
This doesn’t require treatment. It requires
prevention by drainage in the first place,because once you’ve developed pleural thickening,
the only treatment that can be used is surgery.
01:27
And that is quite an invasive and difficult
task to remove all these pleural thickeningsafely. The consequences of pleural thickening
well, not much apart from the fact thatthe patient has lost their lung function.
They have more restrictive lung function,and as a consequence, they’ll be able to
do less exercise and they will prior to theproblem that caused it in the first place.

About the Lecture

The lecture Pleural Thickening by Jeremy Brown, PhD is from the course Pleural Disease.

Included Quiz Questions

Which of the following diseases is NOT an example of pleural plaque?

Previous consolidation.

Previous hemothorax.

Previous tuberculosis.

Asbestos exposure.

Previous pleural infection.

Author of lecture Pleural Thickening

Jeremy Brown, PhD

Customer reviews

(1)
5,0 of 5 stars

5 Stars

5

4 Stars

0

3 Stars

0

2 Stars

0

1 Star

0

User Reviews

(1)
5,0 of 5 stars

5 Stars

5

4 Stars

0

3 Stars

0

2 Stars

0

1 Star

0

Subscribe to bookmark your content

Bookmarks will help you organize our more than 2000 medical videos,
and customize your learning experience for more efficiency and better results.

USMLE™ is a joint program of the Federation of State Medical Boards
(FSMB®) and National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME®). MCAT is a registered
trademark of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
None of the trademark holders are endorsed by nor affiliated with Lecturio.